The Vincent Lingiari Art Award 2026 Winners Announced

The winners have been selected from a distinct array of talent for the 2026 Vincent Lingiari Art Award. Desart and Central Land Council have partnered for the prizes fourth edition, to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Aboriginal Land Rights Act (NT) 1976. As a fundamental and essential piece of history, this act prompted the establishment of the Northern Territory’s Land Council, which has claimed more than half of Northern Territory land back to its traditional owners. To acknowledge the hardship endured, and the eventual triumph, this year’s exhibition is titled  ‘Our Country, Our Culture: 50 Years of Land Right’.

Alyawarr artist Elizabeth Ngwarraye Bonney, has been awarded the winning prize of $10,000. As a traditional healer and daughter of Eileen Kemarre Bonney, a founding member of the Ampilatwatja Art Centre, the artist has followed in her mother’s footsteps by using her artwork to document and acknowledge ancestral land.  The first prize painting ‘My grandmother’s country’, records a large stretch of land northeast of Mparntwe/Alice Springs. In an artist’s statement Bonney speaks of mapping her country in order to pass down knowledge of hunting and dreaming to her children and grandchildren. After receiving the significant prize, Bonney states;  “My mother has been fighting for this land for 40 years, one of the longest standing land claims in the Northern Territory, and now she is passing it over. So we can pass it over to our children. Titjambera land, Wakaya Country.”

The CLC Delegates Choice Award was awarded to Joseph Williams Jungarrayi (Warumungu) for ‘Three Brothers’, as it offers a distinct reflection of colonial interference and acknowledgement of ancestors. Further notable finalists included in the exhibition are Sally M Nangala Mulda, Eunice Napanangka Jack, Julie Nangala Robertson and Doris Bush Nungurrayi.

The Vincent Lingiari Art Awards is on display at the Araluen Arts Centre, Mparntwe/Alice Springs until 16 October. The Desart People’s Choice Award voting is now open, the winner to be announced at the closing of the exhibition. Entry fee.

Image details: Elizabeth Ngwarraye Bonney, My grandmother’s country, 2025. Synthetic polymer paint on linen, 154 x 152.5cm. Courtesy of Desert Mob.